“What wings are to a bird and sails to a ship, so is prayer to the soul.”  ~  Corrie Ten Boom Because John has developed a severe case of Parkinson’s Disease, we are very saddened to say we will be departing the Ultimate World Cruise Saturday Feb 29th, making it only 3/4 of the whole […]

Now back to what we are seeing and not dwelling on what we can’t see. The virus isn’t the only thing cancelling stops, bad weather makes a big dent in our trip, too. Melbourne was scratched due to ‘really’ wild storms. So we went straight to Sydney and spent an additional day there. One of […]

A number of friends have asked how the virus worldwide has affected our trip. So this is the best way to catch up with you all.  Our itinerary has changed drastically due to the Coronavirus situation. All stops in China had already been cancelled, their ports are closed and now Viking thinks it prudent to […]

Here come some of the Australian animals!! We visited the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. Bonorong means “native companion” in the aboriginal language.  They fight with each other for food and their teeth are vicious looking, but other than that, they’re cute!! They are the largest meat-eating marsupials in the world. Wombats are often called ‘the bulldozers […]

The time it takes to sail 220 yards @ 1 nautical mile per hour  =  Knotfurlong  😉 With even more clouds, the next day we sailed into the Doubtful Sound, New Zealand’s Fiordland National Park. It is ten times the size of the more famous Milford Sound. Named by Captain Cook because he encountered such […]

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic.   Good Morning! Two pictures of the same range. One without the sun, the other with the Viking Sun!  Below is the Christchurch skyline. We didn’t make the trip to Christchurch, but stayed in Akaroa.  The Southern Alps contain more […]

Wellington is located on the southern coast of the North Island, on the Cook Strait.  A bus ride thru the Capital of New Zealand showed some interesting neighborhoods, attractive parks, and ended in the Wellington Botanic Garden. The old government building built in 1876 is the largest wooden structure in the southern hemisphere. Once the […]

Tauranga, roughly meaning safe anchorage, is recognized as the landing place of some of the early voyages and canoes from Polynesia in the 13th century followed by the British 600 years later when Captain Cook sailed into the area in 1769. 1/3 of Rotorua’s population today is Maori, the highest in NZ. A Maori community […]

“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”  ~  Jacques Cousteau Oh how I remember loving to watch the underwater adventures of Jacques Cousteau on TV in the late 1960’s. 

New Zealand is one of the last lands to be settled by humans. It is two large islands split by the Cook Strait. Our first stop is the north tip of the North Island, the gateway to more than 150 islands that comprise the Bay of Islands.  Waitangi played a central role in the history […]